Several months ago, I moved to VOIP and canned my regular phone service. As a result, my home alarm system and DirectTivo unit stopped functioning. Although I knew about the possible impact of switching, I knew that switching to VOIP would cut my phone bill by over 50% (once you add in the taxes & fees) - and to me this was certainly worth the inconvenience. However, before switching, I called my alarm company and verified that the system would work over VOIP and they assured me that it would.
With that in mind, I knew I had a task ahead of me which was to re-wire my house to utilize VOIP instead of the traditional land line that ran to my house. After putting it off for several months, my wife finally convinced me that it was in my best interest to get the alarm working again.
Before switching to VOIP, I did a lot of research to determine what systems would or would not function with VOIP, and I came across an article written just for me (so it seemed at the time). Now this article is the top return when searching Google for "VOIP wiring" or anything close to that. The article covers a lot of different scenarios and details the necessary steps and precautions for wiring your home for VOIP: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html. The article's design isn't much to speak about, but the content certainly is!
Before beginning:
I certainly recommend reading the article mentioned above, and based on that article, I stopped by my local Radioshack and picked up a couple 4-packs of these Telephone wire splice connectors. I also drew a detailed diagram of my existing configuration in my Network Interface Unit (NIU) outside of my house. Then I studied the Distribution Diagram and planned out my potential wiring configuration.
Fortunately, my house is new and the wiring was Cat-5 and not overly complex - this helped cement my decision to do the work myself rather than calling in a specialist. Besides the connectors, I also had a variety of electrical tools at my disposal, however, I really only needed a pair of needle-nosed pliers and a screwdriver to open the NIU. With everything in place I was ready to begin.
The re-wire
My first task was to identify which of the five pairs belonged to the cat-5 that ran to the office jack where I was planning to connect the VOIP adapter. One of the pairs I easily identified as the alarm system as it was using a different pair from the rest of the bunch. Now I had to choose between the four remaining pairs. Since the existing wiring job wouldn't fit my new solution, I carefully clipped the existing splice connectors and prepared the first pair to test. I plugged in the VOIP adapter directly into the jack knowing that if I connected the right pair in the NIU I would get a dial tone. I was lucky enough to find the right pair on the first try.
Once I located the correct pair, I was able to re-wire the pairs according to my plan based on the diagram in the article mentioned above. Once the splice connectors were in place, I returned to the house to test one of the jacks inside the house. Voila! Working perfectly.
The wrap-up
Once I tested all the jacks in the house and verified they worked as intended, I returned to the NIU to carefully pack the wires and pairs back into the box and buttoned it up.
Finally, I reconnected the alarm system and performed a test successfully. Now both my wife and I are happy: she's happy because she got what she wanted, and I'm happy because she's not making me unhappy. Having accomplished this task spurred me to complete several items on the "honey-do" list which further increased my wife's happiness.
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